DEL.ICIO.USMartin: Ex-legislator, longtime advocate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Democrat Jim Martin made a fateful decision in 2001 he has been forced to explain in his race to unseat U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
Martin resigned his seat in the state Legislature to become commissioner of the Department of Human Resources, a troubled state agency that had bedeviled other leaders. He took the job despite warnings from friends that heading the department would be “political suicide.”
Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com
Jim Martin, right, candidate for U.S. Senate, visits the Georgia for Change field office on W. Ponce De Leon Road in Decatur to rally volunteers working on get out the vote efforts in Decatur on Friday.
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Now in a Dec. 2 runoff with Chambliss, Martin has found himself defending his time as DHR commissioner.
At issue are the deaths of two children Martin’s department returned to abusive homes. The Republican Chambliss says Martin was fired from that job “because he betrayed the public trust.”
Martin chafes at that characterization and said it does not accurately reflect his solid career in public service, which spans more than 20 years.
Former colleagues and even critics say that while the events of his DHR tenure were unusual, his willingness to take on a challenge for the disadvantaged was not.
“I’m outraged by that accusation because it’s untrue. I have a commitment to children and to people who need a little bit of help,” Martin said in a recent interview. “That has been the hallmark of my political career.”
Martin’s DHR tenure followed a lengthy career in the state House during which he built a reputation as a thoughtful lawmaker willing to delve into the details of legislation.
An Atlanta liberal amid a rural, conservative power structure, he never rose to one of the top positions, but as chairman of the Judiciary Committee he wielded influence over key pieces of legislation, including the hot-button of abortion.
Then-Gov. Roy Barnes, a fellow Democrat, appointed Martin head of DHR. He was in charge when the department was shaken by the deaths of Kyshawn Punter and Caleb Freire, two 2-year-olds from metro Atlanta who had been in state care.
Both were beaten to death.
DHR had returned both to their homes even though the department’s Division of Family and Children Services had received repeated complaints about abuse.
Child advocates and the state employees union called for the resignations of Martin and Juanita Blount-Clark, then-director of DFCS, following the toddlers’ deaths, and Martin stepped down in 2003.
Among those who called on Martin to resign was Don Keenan, an attorney and founder of Keenan’s Kids Foundation, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that advocates on child welfare issues. Keenan said Martin didn’t have the experience for the job.
“On-the-job training was just something we couldn’t afford,” Keenan said. Still, Keenan said he plans to vote for Martin in the runoff. “I, without question, support him for the Senate. He is one hell of a legislator.”
Dee Simms, who served as Georgia’s child advocate while Martin ran DHR, called Chambliss’ attack “absurd.”
“Jim was very easy to work with, very professional, very knowledgeable, and he stayed up to speed on what was going on in DHR,” Simms said. “The cases that are cited in the ads against Jim Martin — it’s ludicrous to assume that he would have any kind of personal responsibility for those.”
During a debate with Martin in October, Chambliss said he did not think Martin was personally responsible for the children’s deaths, but he stressed that Martin was in charge when they occurred.
Martin said the department was open about its mistakes, and he took immediate action after the deaths, including firing the employees who were at fault.
Martin said he also cut government spending in DHR while preserving critical programs, reorganized DHR to make it more accountable and improved the department’s ability to respond to bioterrorism and medical system emergencies.
“I’m proud of the job that I did,” Martin said. “Every time a child was injured or died … I took that very seriously and tried to make sure appropriate corrective action was taken.”
The deaths of the two boys created pressure on Gov. Sonny Perdue to remove Martin. Martin said he resigned after he and Perdue “mutually agreed” he should step down.
Political observers had expected Martin’s ouster because he was a Democrat with strong ties to Barnes serving in the administration of the Republican Perdue.
Perdue praised Martin after announcing his departure.
“He could not have been a more gracious, more cooperative commissioner,” Perdue said. “He’s managed a tough department in tough economic times. His service has been a service of sacrifice.”
Before Martin took over DHR, he represented the Morningside area of Atlanta from 1983 to 2001 in the state House.
During that time, he led some key committees, including the Judiciary Committee and an appropriations subcommittee that oversaw funding for programs for some of Georgia’s neediest.
“By the time he becomes chairman of the Judiciary [Committee] he is a major player,” said Charles Bullock, a political scientist at the University of Georgia and a close observer of state politics. “And that meant that sometimes you had to take the heat. And he did that.”
Republican legislators say Martin irritated them by bottling up anti-abortion legislation in the Judiciary Committee.
“It was very hard for you to get anything by him,” state Rep. Chuck Sims (R-Ambrose) said. “He would use the Constitution fairly well, and I’m sure he knew the Constitution a lot better than most of us laymen. But he wouldn’t let bills out of there that a lot of people wanted out of there. … He was very hardheaded about stuff like that.”
By his own assessment, Martin passed more than 60 pieces of major legislation covering everything from health care to education to crime.
He often singles out legislation he sponsored that allows for a “durable power of attorney” in health care cases, which allows a spouse or friend to make medical decisions when a patient is incapacitated.
Many of the other bills he sponsored focused on helping disabled or abused children.
Chambliss has singled out Martin’s vote for “what was the largest tax increase in Georgia’s history” — an increase in the state sales tax, from 3 percent to 4 percent, to raise $687 million in additional revenue.
The vote passed in 1989, when Democrats controlled the Legislature, and it fell along party lines, with Republicans voting almost unanimously against the measure.
Martin calls Chambliss’ attack “misleading.”
“It was designed to help us be able to do a better job of funding education in this state,” Martin said of the tax increase.
Further, he pointed to his support in the Legislature for wiping out $500 million in state sales taxes on groceries.
Friends and former colleagues say Martin was a sharp and effective but not flashy legislator who was adept at dealing with arcane laws and finding money for projects.
“He is one of the most dedicated and informed legislators I have ever seen,” said Barnes, who served with Martin in the Legislature before Barnes was elected governor. “He would always come into a meeting with sharpened pencils so he could take notes. He knows every issue down to the minutiae.”
Before he was elected to the House, Martin got some key experience when he drafted more than 2,000 bills for lawmakers as an assistant legislative counsel for the General Assembly.
“He was thoughtful. He was perceptive. He was not confrontational,” former Democratic House Speaker Terry Coleman said. “If you asked him to do something, he would do his best. But he would speak his mind.”
Martin mounted his first campaign for statewide office in 2006, losing in the race for lieutenant governor to Casey Cagle, a Republican. Martin got 42 percent of the vote, compared to 54 percent for Cagle.
Soft-spoken and professorial, Martin wasn’t given much of a chance early on in his race to unseat Chambliss, a well-funded Republican incumbent in a red state.
“He was viewed as a sacrificial lamb,” said Bullock, the political scientist at UGA, who said the Democrats didn’t want to yield without competition.
Martin said he entered the race because he believed he had a shot.
“I was confident we could win,” Martin said. “I knew that it would be a challenge, but I knew that if I introduced myself to the voters and if I talked about what I stand for — which is standing up for the middle class — that I would win.”
To take on Chambliss, Martin had to get past several Democrats in the primary. Then he had to defeat DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones in the Democratic runoff.
Jones criticized Martin for not voting for Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primary, and recently reiterated the point.
Martin confirmed he voted for John Edwards, even though Edwards had dropped out of the race. Martin’s campaign recently asked Obama to campaign for him in Georgia, a development Jones calls ironic.
“Jim Martin did not want Obama to be president, but now he wants Obama to come down and help him get into the U.S. Senate,” Jones said. “He wouldn’t vote for the man, and now he wants the man to come down and get him out of trouble.”
Jones, who took flak himself for twice voting for Republican George W. Bush, has not endorsed anyone in the Dec. 2 runoff.
Martin said he has supported Obama since he won the Democratic presidential primary.
“I support the president-elect. I have done that since he was the nominee,” Martin said. “The record is clear that I supported Barack Obama in the general election and that I worked hard to help him.”
Since the primary, Martin and Obama have staked out different positions on the $700 billion bailout for Wall Street.
Martin blasted Chambliss in October for voting for the bailout, saying it failed to address the problems created by the deregulation of Wall Street and lacked protections against “abusive lending practices.”
Obama also voted for the bailout.
“I would not change my position because of that,” Martin said of his support of Obama. “Whether it is John McCain or Barack Obama, I still believe what I said about the bailout is correct.”
Asked what he would do in his first term in the Senate, Martin said he would work closely with Obama to boost the economy, protect consumers against predatory lending practices, seek to reform health care and end the war in Iraq.
In the remaining days until the runoff, Martin said, he will continue to link Chambliss to Bush and his “failed economic strategy.”
Martin’s past political opponents have referred to him as a “nice guy.” So can a nice guy win a runoff against Chambliss, an incumbent known as a bare knuckle campaigner? Martin says he can.
“There is a difference between being tough and being mean,” Martin said. “I wouldn’t have gotten this far in this campaign without being tough. … I don’t enjoy beating up on people or being mean to people or misstating their record or engaging in personal attacks.
“But I am going to talk about the difference between me and Saxby Chambliss, and I am going to talk about it aggressively.”
Staff writer Jim Tharpe contributed to this article.
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